Sound of the underground ... Are podiobooks the future of literature? Photograph: Maria Teijeiro/Getty

Tomorrow morning, I'll definitely be checking the Amazon bestseller charts for US horror fiction; not because I like horror, but because I like fairy tales. Exactly a year ago today the list was topped by Ancestor, a futuristic novel by Scott Sigler. This year his new book, Infected, is likely to repeat the feat, with pre-release sales already launching it into the top 20. Sigler's prose isn't really my thing, but his own success story is internet rags-to-riches gold, and its fairy godmother is the podiobook.

So little known they don't even have their own Wikipedia page, podiobooks (otherwise known as podcast novels) are serialised audiobooks, released on the net in free podcast instalments. They represent one weapon in a whole new arsenal of online authorial autonomy. Infected has not only been pre-released as a chapter-by-chapter podiobook; it was also available as a PDF eBook for four days before publication, and comes with a host of downloadable stickers, ringtones, wallpapers and CDs to fuel its cult appeal.

Sigler's approach to marketing his work is that of someone who truly understands the power of social media. He first developed the podiobook concept in 2005 to promote his debut novel, EarthCore, which lost a publisher when the Time/Warner imprint iPublish collapsed after 9/11. On the back of EarthCore's podio popularity, Sigler brokered a deal with iTunes, who offered the book as a paid download in 2006. Ancestor's chart-topping triumph was also underpinned by a podiobook and eBook pre-release, and although Infected has tipped him into the safe and sumptuous hands of Random House, Sigler has continued to use the podiobook as the central medium for his work.

Before we get all excited about a future where the lean, mean, freedom-fighting God of Internet Writing stamps on the overfed corpse of the cravat-wearing, chaise-lounging God of Traditional Publishing, I have to point out that, so far, the vast majority of podiobooks are limited to the seemingly native net genres of sci-fi and fantasy, and most of them are just as bad as most of the tat the publishing houses print. However, I admire the way Sigler and other podiobook pioneers are opening avenues for new or neglected authors. Free podiobooks may well also encourage reluctant, although internet-savvy, young readers to get involved in fiction, and as a serialised form they follow a time-honoured literary approach (think Dickens, Collins, Conan Doyle or, more recently, Michel Faber in this very paper), that appeals to readers' sense of suspense and expectation in a world of all-too-instant gratification.

Moreover, Sigler has shown that the online and offline book industries can work together, raking in new audiences whilst also earning a buck. He reminds us that not all writers have to be either sweat-stained, agrophobic, unpublished netheads or antiquated, laudanum-supping alarmists who think that "blooks" and the Kindle are the apocalyptic electronic nemeses of ye olde pulp'n'ink. In our Brave New World 2.0, my children, we can be both.

So do you think that podiobooks could encourage you to "read" new authors, in a new way? Would you release your work in a similar way online? And has anyone discovered a podiobook prodigy they think could be next year's Amazon success?